Continuous alloy feedstock production mold

ABSTRACT

Embodiments herein relate to a process for semi-continuous or continuous production of a solid object from a molten metal, with the potential of being a cleaner and less expensive alternative to complicated split mold processes currently used. The embodiments can be used to perform multiple melt/pour cycles without breaking vacuum, with the system only opened to remove the solid object via an air lock, e.g., a separate chamber or load lock, which will be periodically opened to remove feedstock without breaking the vacuum of the process chamber. Embodiments also relate to an apparatus for semi-continuous or continuous production of a solid object from a molten metal.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to continuous alloy feedstock production mold for the manufacture of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys and methods of making the same.

BACKGROUND

A large portion of the metallic alloys in use today are processed by solidification casting, at least initially. The metallic alloy is melted and cast into a metal or ceramic mold, where it solidifies. The mold is stripped away, and the cast metallic piece is ready for use or further processing. The as-cast structure of most materials produced during solidification and cooling depends upon the cooling rate. There is no general rule for the nature of the variation, but for the most part the structure changes only gradually with changes in cooling rate. On the other hand, for the bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys, the change between the amorphous state produced by relatively rapid cooling and the crystalline state produced by relatively slower cooling is one of kind rather than degree—the two states have distinct properties.

A conventional method for making a bulk-metallic glass (BMG) feedstock requires casting a block of material at or above the melting temperature of the amorphous metal alloy in a mold, freezing the molten amorphous metal alloy in the mold to form a cast block, and then using a cutting tool to remove the gate portion of the cast block and shape the cast block into the desired final geometry. Convention methods of making BMG feedstock involves using cold molds produced from cold steel or something similar and pouring into it a quantity of metal from a crucible containing a molten alloy into a fixed split mold, which has to be dismantled after the pour and after the material has solidified. However, dismantling the mold in order to remove the feedstock causes some problems, in particular, because once one removes the feedstock one is left with a lot of dross, flash and things that are not feedstock but were part of the original melt. Dross refers to scum that forms on the surface of molten metal, typically as a result of oxidation. Flash is metal that has worked its way into the separation between pieces of the mold, so it is like a thin ridge along the edges of the sample. Sometimes it can be fairly substantial. So it solidifies along with the feedstock but one has to remove it as part of the finishing process for the feedstock. For example, if one wants a cylinder one cannot necessarily use a cylinder with a thin ridge running along the outside of it. Furthermore, conventional methods of casting BMG feedstock can cause uncontrolled cooling of the amorphous metal alloy, which can cause uncontrolled amount of amorphicity in the BMG feedstock. Therefore, new methods for making BMG feedstocks that overcome the above mentioned limitations of the casting process are desirable.

SUMMARY

A proposed solution according to embodiments herein for making high quality BMG feedstock is to use continuous alloy feedstock production methods. The embodiments herein include designs of a rotating mold for holding poured molten alloys or pure metals in cavities in order to separate molten material into individual units and quench and solidify each unit into an ingot for use as feedstock for additional operations such as casting, injection molding, or thermoplastic forming An example would include the pouring, solidification, and removal of molten amorphous alloy feedstock for subsequent use in the casting of near net shape parts using a separate apparatus.

The cavity may or may not have a taper over the entire length of the cavity. At the bottom of the cavity there is a slight taper and a plug which matches that taper but is not joined specifically to the cavity. The plug could have a retainer on the bottom side of the cavity so that the plug cannot fall into the cavity once it is inverted or fall out from the bottom of the cavity. The retainer allows the plug to be pushed up some distance into the cavity when, at the appropriate moment during the process, the plug is pushed from the bottom of the cavity, and essentially the bottom face of the cavity rises up a certain distance, thereby ejecting the ingot out of the cavity as well as the mold.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 provides a temperature-viscosity diagram of an exemplary bulk solidifying amorphous alloy.

FIG. 2 provides a schematic of a time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram for an exemplary bulk solidifying amorphous alloy.

FIG. 3 shows a rotating drum or wheel mold with cavities therein and a piston to eject cast feedstock in accordance with an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic of a close up view of a plug for ejecting each individual feed stock unit in accordance with an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a gravity actuated sliding piston in accordance with an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIGS. 6( a) and 6(b) show a single rod mold with the tapered plug on the bottom portion in accordance with an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIGS. 7( a) and 7(b) show a mold assembly with multiple rod molds in accordance with an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIGS. 8( a), 8(b), 8(c), and 8(d) show a vacuum melting system in accordance with an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 9 shows a mold having integrated heating and cooling within the mold in accordance with an embodiment of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

All publications, patents, and patent applications cited in this Specification are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

The articles “a” and “an” are used herein to refer to one or to more than one (i.e., to at least one) of the grammatical object of the article. By way of example, “a polymer resin” means one polymer resin or more than one polymer resin. Any ranges cited herein are inclusive. The terms “substantially” and “about” used throughout this Specification are used to describe and account for small fluctuations. For example, they can refer to less than or equal to ±5%, such as less than or equal to ±2%, such as less than or equal to ±1%, such as less than or equal to ±0.5%, such as less than or equal to ±0.2%, such as less than or equal to ±0.1%, such as less than or equal to ±0.05%.

Bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys, or bulk metallic glasses (“BMG”), are a recently developed class of metallic materials. These alloys may be solidified and cooled at relatively slow rates, and they retain the amorphous, non-crystalline (i.e., glassy) state at room temperature. Amorphous alloys have many superior properties than their crystalline counterparts. However, if the cooling rate is not sufficiently high, crystals may form inside the alloy during cooling, so that the benefits of the amorphous state can be lost. For example, one challenge with the fabrication of bulk amorphous alloy parts is partial crystallization of the parts due to either slow cooling or impurities in the raw alloy material. As a high degree of amorphicity (and, conversely, a low degree of crystallinity) is desirable in BMG parts, there is a need to develop methods for casting BMG parts having controlled amount of amorphicity.

FIG. 1 (obtained from U.S. Pat. No. 7,575,040) shows a viscosity-temperature graph of an exemplary bulk solidifying amorphous alloy, from the VIT-001 series of Zr—Ti—Ni—Cu—Be family manufactured by Liquidmetal Technology. It should be noted that there is no clear liquid/solid transformation for a bulk solidifying amorphous metal during the formation of an amorphous solid. The molten alloy becomes more and more viscous with increasing undercooling until it approaches solid form around the glass transition temperature. Accordingly, the temperature of solidification front for bulk solidifying amorphous alloys can be around glass transition temperature, where the alloy will practically act as a solid for the purposes of pulling out the quenched amorphous sheet product.

FIG. 2 (obtained from U.S. Pat. No. 7,575,040) shows the time-temperature-transformation (TTT) cooling curve of an exemplary bulk solidifying amorphous alloy, or TTT diagram. Bulk-solidifying amorphous metals do not experience a liquid/solid crystallization transformation upon cooling, as with conventional metals. Instead, the highly fluid, non crystalline form of the metal found at high temperatures (near a “melting temperature” Tm) becomes more viscous as the temperature is reduced (near to the glass transition temperature Tg), eventually taking on the outward physical properties of a conventional solid.

Even though there is no liquid/crystallization transformation for a bulk solidifying amorphous metal, a “melting temperature” Tm may be defined as the thermodynamic liquidus temperature of the corresponding crystalline phase. Under this regime, the viscosity of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys at the melting temperature could lie in the range of about 0.1 poise to about 10,000 poise, and even sometimes under 0.01 poise. A lower viscosity at the “melting temperature” would provide faster and complete filling of intricate portions of the shell/mold with a bulk solidifying amorphous metal for forming the BMG parts. Furthermore, the cooling rate of the molten metal to form a BMG part has to such that the time-temperature profile during cooling does not traverse through the nose-shaped region bounding the crystallized region in the TTT diagram of FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, Tnose is the critical crystallization temperature Tx where crystallization is most rapid and occurs in the shortest time scale.

The supercooled liquid region, the temperature region between Tg and Tx is a manifestation of the extraordinary stability against crystallization of bulk solidifying amorphous alloys. In this temperature region the bulk solidifying alloy can exist as a highly viscous liquid. The viscosity of the bulk solidifying alloy in the supercooled liquid region can vary between 10¹² Pa s at the glass transition temperature down to 10⁵ Pa s at the crystallization temperature, the high temperature limit of the supercooled liquid region. Liquids with such viscosities can undergo substantial plastic strain under an applied pressure. The embodiments herein make use of the large plastic formability in the supercooled liquid region as a forming and separating method.

One needs to clarify something about Tx. Technically, the nose-shaped curve shown in the TTT diagram describes Tx as a function of temperature and time. Thus, regardless of the trajectory that one takes while heating or cooling a metal alloy, when one hits the TTT curve, one has reached Tx. In FIG. 1( b), Tx is shown as a dashed line as Tx can vary from close to Tm to close to Tg.

The schematic TTT diagram of FIG. 2 shows processing methods of die casting from at or above Tm to below Tg without the time-temperature trajectory (shown as (1) as an example trajectory) hitting the TTT curve. During die casting, the forming takes place substantially simultaneously with fast cooling to avoid the trajectory hitting the TTT curve. The processing methods for superplastic forming (SPF) from at or below Tg to below Tm without the time-temperature trajectory (shown as (2), (3) and (4) as example trajectories) hitting the TTT curve. In SPF, the amorphous BMG is reheated into the supercooled liquid region where the available processing window could be much larger than die casting, resulting in better controllability of the process. The SPF process does not require fast cooling to avoid crystallization during cooling. Also, as shown by example trajectories (2), (3) and (4), the SPF can be carried out with the highest temperature during SPF being above Tnose or below Tnose, up to about Tm. If one heats up a piece of amorphous alloy but manages to avoid hitting the TTT curve, you have heated “between Tg and Tm”, but one would have not reached Tx.

Typical differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) heating curves of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys taken at a heating rate of 20 C/min describe, for the most part, a particular trajectory across the TTT data where one would likely see a Tg at a certain temperature, a Tx when the DSC heating ramp crosses the TTT crystallization onset, and eventually melting peaks when the same trajectory crosses the temperature range for melting. If one heats a bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy at a rapid heating rate as shown by the ramp up portion of trajectories (2), (3) and (4) in FIG. 2, then one could avoid the TTT curve entirely, and the DSC data would show a glass transition but no Tx upon heating. Another way to think about it is trajectories (2), (3) and (4) can fall anywhere in temperature between the nose of the TTT curve (and even above it) and the Tg line, as long as it does not hit the crystallization curve. That just means that the horizontal plateau in trajectories might get much shorter as one increases the processing temperature.

Phase

The term “phase” herein can refer to one that can be found in a thermodynamic phase diagram. A phase is a region of space (e.g., a thermodynamic system) throughout which all physical properties of a material are essentially uniform. Examples of physical properties include density, index of refraction, chemical composition and lattice periodicity. A simple description of a phase is a region of material that is chemically uniform, physically distinct, and/or mechanically separable. For example, in a system consisting of ice and water in a glass jar, the ice cubes are one phase, the water is a second phase, and the humid air over the water is a third phase. The glass of the jar is another separate phase. A phase can refer to a solid solution, which can be a binary, tertiary, quaternary, or more, solution, or a compound, such as an intermetallic compound. As another example, an amorphous phase is distinct from a crystalline phase.

Metal, Transition Metal, and Non-Metal

The term “metal” refers to an electropositive chemical element. The term “element” in this Specification refers generally to an element that can be found in a Periodic Table. Physically, a metal atom in the ground state contains a partially filled band with an empty state close to an occupied state. The term “transition metal” is any of the metallic elements within Groups 3 to 12 in the Periodic Table that have an incomplete inner electron shell and that serve as transitional links between the most and the least electropositive in a series of elements. Transition metals are characterized by multiple valences, colored compounds, and the ability to form stable complex ions. The term “nonmetal” refers to a chemical element that does not have the capacity to lose electrons and form a positive ion.

Depending on the application, any suitable nonmetal elements, or their combinations, can be used. The alloy (or “alloy composition”) can comprise multiple nonmetal elements, such as at least two, at least three, at least four, or more, nonmetal elements. A nonmetal element can be any element that is found in Groups 13-17 in the Periodic Table. For example, a nonmetal element can be any one of F, Cl, Br, I, At, O, S, Se, Te, Po, N, P, As, Sb, Bi, C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, and B. Occasionally, a nonmetal element can also refer to certain metalloids (e.g., B, Si, Ge, As, Sb, Te, and Po) in Groups 13-17. In one embodiment, the nonmetal elements can include B, Si, C, P, or combinations thereof. Accordingly, for example, the alloy can comprise a boride, a carbide, or both.

A transition metal element can be any of scandium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, yttrium, zirconium, niobium, molybdenum, technetium, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, cadmium, hafnium, tantalum, tungsten, rhenium, osmium, iridium, platinum, gold, mercury, rutherfordium, dubnium, seaborgium, bohrium, hassium, meitnerium, ununnilium, unununium, and ununbium. In one embodiment, a BMG containing a transition metal element can have at least one of Sc, Y, La, Ac, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Mn, Tc, Re, Fe, Ru, Os, Co, Rh, Ir, Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag, Au, Zn, Cd, and Hg. Depending on the application, any suitable transitional metal elements, or their combinations, can be used. The alloy composition can comprise multiple transitional metal elements, such as at least two, at least three, at least four, or more, transitional metal elements.

The presently described alloy or alloy “sample” or “specimen” alloy can have any shape or size. For example, the alloy can have a shape of a particulate, which can have a shape such as spherical, ellipsoid, wire-like, rod-like, sheet-like, flake-like, or an irregular shape. The particulate can have any size. For example, it can have an average diameter of between about 1 micron and about 100 microns, such as between about 5 microns and about 80 microns, such as between about 10 microns and about 60 microns, such as between about 15 microns and about 50 microns, such as between about 15 microns and about 45 microns, such as between about 20 microns and about 40 microns, such as between about 25 microns and about 35 microns. For example, in one embodiment, the average diameter of the particulate is between about 25 microns and about 44 microns. In some embodiments, smaller particulates, such as those in the nanometer range, or larger particulates, such as those bigger than 100 microns, can be used.

The alloy sample or specimen can also be of a much larger dimension. For example, it can be a bulk structural component, such as an ingot, housing/casing of an electronic device or even a portion of a structural component that has dimensions in the millimeter, centimeter, or meter range.

Solid Solution

The term “solid solution” refers to a solid form of a solution. The term “solution” refers to a mixture of two or more substances, which may be solids, liquids, gases, or a combination of these. The mixture can be homogeneous or heterogeneous. The term “mixture” is a composition of two or more substances that are combined with each other and are generally capable of being separated. Generally, the two or more substances are not chemically combined with each other.

Alloy

In some embodiments, the alloy composition described herein can be fully alloyed. In one embodiment, an “alloy” refers to a homogeneous mixture or solid solution of two or more metals, the atoms of one replacing or occupying interstitial positions between the atoms of the other; for example, brass is an alloy of zinc and copper. An alloy, in contrast to a composite, can refer to a partial or complete solid solution of one or more elements in a metal matrix, such as one or more compounds in a metallic matrix. The term alloy herein can refer to both a complete solid solution alloy that can give single solid phase microstructure and a partial solution that can give two or more phases. An alloy composition described herein can refer to one comprising an alloy or one comprising an alloy-containing composite.

Thus, a fully alloyed alloy can have a homogenous distribution of the constituents, be it a solid solution phase, a compound phase, or both. The term “fully alloyed” used herein can account for minor variations within the error tolerance. For example, it can refer to at least 90% alloyed, such as at least 95% alloyed, such as at least 99% alloyed, such as at least 99.5% alloyed, such as at least 99.9% alloyed. The percentage herein can refer to either volume percent or weight percentage, depending on the context. These percentages can be balanced by impurities, which can be in terms of composition or phases that are not a part of the alloy.

Amorphous or Non-Crystalline Solid

An “amorphous” or “non-crystalline solid” is a solid that lacks lattice periodicity, which is characteristic of a crystal. As used herein, an “amorphous solid” includes “glass” which is an amorphous solid that softens and transforms into a liquid-like state upon heating through the glass transition. Generally, amorphous materials lack the long-range order characteristic of a crystal, though they can possess some short-range order at the atomic length scale due to the nature of chemical bonding. The distinction between amorphous solids and crystalline solids can be made based on lattice periodicity as determined by structural characterization techniques such as x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy.

The terms “order” and “disorder” designate the presence or absence of some symmetry or correlation in a many-particle system. The terms “long-range order” and “short-range order” distinguish order in materials based on length scales.

The strictest form of order in a solid is lattice periodicity: a certain pattern (the arrangement of atoms in a unit cell) is repeated again and again to form a translationally invariant tiling of space. This is the defining property of a crystal. Possible symmetries have been classified in 14 Bravais lattices and 230 space groups.

Lattice periodicity implies long-range order. If only one unit cell is known, then by virtue of the translational symmetry it is possible to accurately predict all atomic positions at arbitrary distances. The converse is generally true, except, for example, in quasi-crystals that have perfectly deterministic tilings but do not possess lattice periodicity.

Long-range order characterizes physical systems in which remote portions of the same sample exhibit correlated behavior. This can be expressed as a correlation function, namely the spin-spin correlation function: G(x, x′)=(s(x), s(x′)).

In the above function, s is the spin quantum number and x is the distance function within the particular system. This function is equal to unity when x=x′ and decreases as the distance |x-x′| increases. Typically, it decays exponentially to zero at large distances, and the system is considered to be disordered. If, however, the correlation function decays to a constant value at large |x-x′|, then the system can be said to possess long-range order. If it decays to zero as a power of the distance, then it can be called quasi-long-range order. Note that what constitutes a large value of |x-x′| is relative.

A system can be said to present quenched disorder when some parameters defining its behavior are random variables that do not evolve with time (i.e., they are quenched or frozen)—e.g., spin glasses. It is opposite to annealed disorder, where the random variables are allowed to evolve themselves. Embodiments herein include systems comprising quenched disorder.

The alloy described herein can be crystalline, partially crystalline, amorphous, or substantially amorphous. For example, the alloy sample/specimen can include at least some crystallinity, with grains/crystals having sizes in the nanometer and/or micrometer ranges. Alternatively, the alloy can be substantially amorphous, such as fully amorphous. In one embodiment, the alloy composition is at least substantially not amorphous, such as being substantially crystalline, such as being entirely crystalline.

In one embodiment, the presence of a crystal or a plurality of crystals in an otherwise amorphous alloy can be construed as a “crystalline phase” therein. The degree of crystallinity (or “crystallinity” for short in some embodiments) of an alloy can refer to the amount of the crystalline phase present in the alloy. The degree can refer to, for example, a fraction of crystals present in the alloy. The fraction can refer to volume fraction or weight fraction, depending on the context. A measure of how “amorphous” an amorphous alloy is can be amorphicity. Amorphicity can be measured in terms of a degree of crystallinity. For example, in one embodiment, an alloy having a low degree of crystallinity can be said to have a high degree of amorphicity. In one embodiment, for example, an alloy having 60 vol % crystalline phase can have a 40 vol % amorphous phase.

Amorphous Alloy or Amorphous Metal

An “amorphous alloy” is an alloy having an amorphous content of more than 50% by volume, preferably more than 90% by volume of amorphous content, more preferably more than 95% by volume of amorphous content, and most preferably more than 99% to almost 100% by volume of amorphous content. Note that, as described above, an alloy high in amorphicity is equivalently low in degree of crystallinity. An “amorphous metal” is an amorphous metal material with a disordered atomic-scale structure. In contrast to most metals, which are crystalline and therefore have a highly ordered arrangement of atoms, amorphous alloys are non-crystalline. Materials in which such a disordered structure is produced directly from the liquid state during cooling are sometimes referred to as “glasses.” Accordingly, amorphous metals are commonly referred to as “metallic glasses” or “glassy metals.” In one embodiment, a bulk metallic glass (“BMG”) can refer to an alloy, of which the microstructure is at least partially amorphous. However, there are several ways besides extremely rapid cooling to produce amorphous metals, including physical vapor deposition, solid-state reaction, ion irradiation, melt spinning, and mechanical alloying. Amorphous alloys can be a single class of materials, regardless of how they are prepared.

Amorphous metals can be produced through a variety of quick-cooling methods. For instance, amorphous metals can be produced by sputtering molten metal onto a spinning metal disk. The rapid cooling, on the order of millions of degrees a second, can be too fast for crystals to form, and the material is thus “locked in” a glassy state. Also, amorphous metals/alloys can be produced with critical cooling rates low enough to allow formation of amorphous structures in thick layers—e.g., bulk metallic glasses.

The terms “bulk metallic glass” (“BMG”), bulk amorphous alloy (“BAA”), and bulk solidifying amorphous alloy are used interchangeably herein. They refer to amorphous alloys having the smallest dimension at least in the millimeter range. For example, the dimension can be at least about 0.5 mm, such as at least about 1 mm, such as at least about 2 mm, such as at least about 4 mm, such as at least about 5 mm, such as at least about 6 mm, such as at least about 8 mm, such as at least about 10 mm, such as at least about 12 mm. Depending on the geometry, the dimension can refer to the diameter, radius, thickness, width, length, etc. A BMG can also be a metallic glass having at least one dimension in the centimeter range, such as at least about 1.0 cm, such as at least about 2.0 cm, such as at least about 5.0 cm, such as at least about 10.0 cm. In some embodiments, a BMG can have at least one dimension at least in the meter range. A BMG can take any of the shapes or forms described above, as related to a metallic glass. Accordingly, a BMG described herein in some embodiments can be different from a thin film made by a conventional deposition technique in one important aspect—the former can be of a much larger dimension than the latter.

Amorphous metals can be an alloy rather than a pure metal. The alloys may contain atoms of significantly different sizes, leading to low free volume (and therefore having viscosity up to orders of magnitude higher than other metals and alloys) in a molten state. The viscosity prevents the atoms from moving enough to form an ordered lattice. The material structure may result in low shrinkage during cooling and resistance to plastic deformation. The absence of grain boundaries, the weak spots of crystalline materials in some cases, may, for example, lead to better resistance to wear and corrosion. In one embodiment, amorphous metals, while technically glasses, may also be much tougher and less brittle than oxide glasses and ceramics.

Thermal conductivity of amorphous materials may be lower than that of their crystalline counterparts. To achieve formation of an amorphous structure even during slower cooling, the alloy may be made of three or more components, leading to complex crystal units with higher potential energy and lower probability of formation. The formation of amorphous alloy can depend on several factors: the composition of the components of the alloy; the atomic radius of the components (preferably with a significant difference of over 12% to achieve high packing density and low free volume); and the negative heat of mixing the combination of components, inhibiting crystal nucleation and prolonging the time the molten metal stays in a supercooled state. However, as the formation of an amorphous alloy is based on many different variables, it can be difficult to make a prior determination of whether an alloy composition would form an amorphous alloy.

Amorphous alloys, for example, of boron, silicon, phosphorus, and other glass formers with magnetic metals (iron, cobalt, nickel) may be magnetic, with low coercivity and high electrical resistance. The high resistance leads to low losses by eddy currents when subjected to alternating magnetic fields, a property useful, for example, as transformer magnetic cores.

Amorphous alloys may have a variety of potentially useful properties. In particular, they tend to be stronger than crystalline alloys of similar chemical composition, and they can sustain larger reversible (“elastic”) deformations than crystalline alloys. Amorphous metals derive their strength directly from their non-crystalline structure, which can have none of the defects (such as dislocations) that limit the strength of crystalline alloys. For example, one modern amorphous metal, known as Vitreloy™, has a tensile strength that is almost twice that of high-grade titanium. In some embodiments, metallic glasses at room temperature are not ductile and tend to fail suddenly when loaded in tension, which limits the material applicability in reliability-critical applications, as the impending failure is not evident. Therefore, to overcome this challenge, metal matrix composite materials having a metallic glass matrix containing dendritic particles or fibers of a ductile crystalline metal can be used. Alternatively, a BMG low in element(s) that tend to cause embitterment (e.g., Ni) can be used. For example, a Ni-free BMG can be used to improve the ductility of the BMG.

Another useful property of bulk amorphous alloys is that they can be true glasses; in other words, they can soften and flow upon heating. This can allow for easy processing, such as by injection molding, in much the same way as polymers. As a result, amorphous alloys can be used for making sports equipment, medical devices, electronic components and equipment, and thin films Thin films of amorphous metals can be deposited as protective coatings via a high velocity oxygen fuel technique.

A material can have an amorphous phase, a crystalline phase, or both. The amorphous and crystalline phases can have the same chemical composition and differ only in the microstructure—i.e., one amorphous and the other crystalline. Microstructure in one embodiment refers to the structure of a material as revealed by a microscope at 25× magnification or higher. Alternatively, the two phases can have different chemical compositions and microstructures. For example, a composition can be partially amorphous, substantially amorphous, or completely amorphous.

As described above, the degree of amorphicity (and conversely the degree of crystallinity) can be measured by fraction of crystals present in the alloy. The degree can refer to volume fraction or weight fraction of the crystalline phase present in the alloy. A partially amorphous composition can refer to a composition of at least about 5 vol % of which is of an amorphous phase, such as at least about 10 vol %, such as at least about 20 vol %, such as at least about 40 vol %, such as at least about 60 vol %, such as at least about 80 vol %, such as at least about 90 vol %. The terms “substantially” and “about” have been defined elsewhere in this application. Accordingly, a composition that is at least substantially amorphous can refer to one of which at least about 90 vol % is amorphous, such as at least about 95 vol %, such as at least about 98 vol %, such as at least about 99 vol %, such as at least about 99.5 vol %, such as at least about 99.8 vol %, such as at least about 99.9 vol %. In one embodiment, a substantially amorphous composition can have some incidental, insignificant amount of crystalline phase present therein.

In one embodiment, an amorphous alloy composition can be homogeneous with respect to the amorphous phase. A substance that is uniform in composition is homogeneous. This is in contrast to a substance that is heterogeneous. The term “composition” refers to the chemical composition and/or microstructure in the substance. A substance is homogeneous when a volume of the substance is divided in half and both halves have substantially the same composition. For example, a particulate suspension is homogeneous when a volume of the particulate suspension is divided in half and both halves have substantially the same volume of particles. However, it might be possible to see the individual particles under a microscope. Another example of a homogeneous substance is air where different ingredients therein are equally suspended, though the particles, gases and liquids in air can be analyzed separately or separated from air.

A composition that is homogeneous with respect to an amorphous alloy can refer to one having an amorphous phase substantially uniformly distributed throughout its microstructure. In other words, the composition macroscopically comprises a substantially uniformly distributed amorphous alloy throughout the composition. In an alternative embodiment, the composition can be of a composite, having an amorphous phase having therein a non-amorphous phase. The non-amorphous phase can be a crystal or a plurality of crystals. The crystals can be in the form of particulates of any shape, such as spherical, ellipsoid, wire-like, rod-like, sheet-like, flake-like, or an irregular shape. In one embodiment, it can have a dendritic form. For example, an at least partially amorphous composite composition can have a crystalline phase in the shape of dendrites dispersed in an amorphous phase matrix; the dispersion can be uniform or non-uniform, and the amorphous phase and the crystalline phase can have the same or a different chemical composition. In one embodiment, they have substantially the same chemical composition. In another embodiment, the crystalline phase can be more ductile than the BMG phase.

The methods described herein can be applicable to any type of amorphous alloy. Similarly, the amorphous alloy described herein as a constituent of a composition or article can be of any type. The amorphous alloy can comprise the element Zr, Hf, Ti, Cu, Ni, Pt, Pd, Fe, Mg, Au, La, Ag, Al, Mo, Nb, Be, or combinations thereof. Namely, the alloy can include any combination of these elements in its chemical formula or chemical composition. The elements can be present at different weight or volume percentages. For example, an iron “based” alloy can refer to an alloy having a non-insignificant weight percentage of iron present therein, the weight percent can be, for example, at least about 20 wt %, such as at least about 40 wt %, such as at least about 50 wt %, such as at least about 60 wt %, such as at least about 80 wt %. Alternatively, in one embodiment, the above-described percentages can be volume percentages, instead of weight percentages. Accordingly, an amorphous alloy can be zirconium-based, titanium-based, platinum-based, palladium-based, gold-based, silver-based, copper-based, iron-based, nickel-based, aluminum-based, molybdenum-based, and the like. The alloy can also be free of any of the aforementioned elements to suit a particular purpose. For example, in some embodiments, the alloy, or the composition including the alloy, can be substantially free of nickel, aluminum, titanium, beryllium, or combinations thereof. In one embodiment, the alloy or the composite is completely free of nickel, aluminum, titanium, beryllium, or combinations thereof.

For example, the amorphous alloy can have the formula (Zr, Ti)_(a)(Ni, Cu, Fe)_(b)(Be, Al, Si, B)_(c), wherein a, b, and c each represents a weight or atomic percentage. In one embodiment, a is in the range of from 30 to 75, b is in the range of from 5 to 60, and c is in the range of from 0 to 50 in atomic percentages. Alternatively, the amorphous alloy can have the formula (Zr, Ti)_(a)(Ni, Cu)_(b)(Be)_(c), wherein a, b, and c each represents a weight or atomic percentage. In one embodiment, a is in the range of from 40 to 75, b is in the range of from 5 to 50, and c is in the range of from 5 to 50 in atomic percentages. The alloy can also have the formula (Zr, Ti)_(a)(Ni, Cu)_(b)(Be)_(c), wherein a, b, and c each represents a weight or atomic percentage. In one embodiment, a is in the range of from 45 to 65, b is in the range of from 7.5 to 35, and c is in the range of from 10 to 37.5 in atomic percentages. Alternatively, the alloy can have the formula (Zr)_(a)(Nb, Ti)_(b)(Ni, Cu)_(c)(Al)_(d), wherein a, b, c, and d each represents a weight or atomic percentage. In one embodiment, a is in the range of from 45 to 65, b is in the range of from 0 to 10, c is in the range of from 20 to 40 and d is in the range of from 7.5 to 15 in atomic percentages. One exemplary embodiment of the aforedescribed alloy system is a Zr—Ti—Ni—Cu—Be based amorphous alloy under the trade name Vitreloy™, such as Vitreloy-1 and Vitreloy-101, as fabricated by Liquidmetal Technologies, CA, USA. Some examples of amorphous alloys of the different systems are provided in Table 1.

The amorphous alloys can also be ferrous alloys, such as (Fe, Ni, Co) based alloys. Examples of such compositions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,325,868; 5,288,344; 5,368,659; 5,618,359; and 5,735,975, Inoue et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., Volume 71, p 464 (1997), Shen et al., Mater. Trans., JIM, Volume 42, p 2136 (2001), and Japanese Patent Application No. 200126277 (Pub. No. 2001303218 A). One exemplary composition is Fe₇₂Al₅Ga₂P₁₁C₆B₄. Another example is Fe₇₂Al₇Zr₁₀Mo₅W₂B₁₅. Another iron-based alloy system that can be used in the coating herein is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0084052, wherein the amorphous metal contains, for example, manganese (1 to 3 atomic %), yttrium (0.1 to 10 atomic %), and silicon (0.3 to 3.1 atomic %) in the range of composition given in parentheses; and that contains the following elements in the specified range of composition given in parentheses: chromium (15 to 20 atomic %), molybdenum (2 to 15 atomic %), tungsten (1 to 3 atomic %), boron (5 to 16 atomic %), carbon (3 to 16 atomic %), and the balance iron.

The aforedescribed amorphous alloy systems can further include additional elements, such as additional transition metal elements, including Nb, Cr, V, and Co. The additional elements can be present at less than or equal to about 30 wt %, such as less than or equal to about 20 wt %, such as less than or equal to about 10 wt %, such as less than or equal to about 5 wt %. In one embodiment, the additional, optional element is at least one of cobalt, manganese, zirconium, tantalum, niobium, tungsten, yttrium, titanium, vanadium and hafnium to form carbides and further improve wear and corrosion resistance. Further optional elements may include phosphorous, germanium and arsenic, totaling up to about 2%, and preferably less than 1%, to reduce melting point. Otherwise incidental impurities should be less than about 2% and preferably 0.5%.

TABLE 1 Exemplary amorphous alloy compositions Alloy Atm % Atm % Atm % Atm % Atm % Atm % 1 Zr Ti Cu Ni Be 41.20% 13.80% 12.50%  10.00% 22.50% 2 Zr Ti Cu Ni Be 44.00% 11.00% 10.00%  10.00% 25.00% 3 Zr Ti Cu Ni Nb Be 56.25% 11.25% 6.88%  5.63%  7.50% 12.50% 4 Zr Ti Cu Ni Al Be 64.75%  5.60% 14.90%  11.15%  2.60%  1.00% 5 Zr Ti Cu Ni Al 52.50%  5.00% 17.90%  14.60% 10.00% 6 Zr Nb Cu Ni Al 57.00%  5.00% 15.40%  12.60% 10.00% 7 Zr Cu Ni Al Sn 50.75% 36.23% 4.03%  9.00%  0.50% 8 Zr Ti Cu Ni Be 46.75%  8.25% 7.50% 10.00% 27.50% 9 Zr Ti Ni Be 21.67% 43.33% 7.50% 27.50% 10 Zr Ti Cu Be 35.00% 30.00% 7.50% 27.50% 11 Zr Ti Co Be 35.00% 30.00% 6.00% 29.00% 12 Au Ag Pd Cu Si 49.00%  5.50% 2.30% 26.90% 16.30% 13 Au Ag Pd Cu Si 50.90%  3.00% 2.30% 27.80% 16.00% 14 Pt Cu Ni P 57.50% 14.70% 5.30% 22.50% 15 Zr Ti Nb Cu Be 36.60% 31.40% 7.00%  5.90% 19.10% 16 Zr Ti Nb Cu Be 38.30% 32.90% 7.30%  6.20% 15.30% 17 Zr Ti Nb Cu Be 39.60% 33.90% 7.60%  6.40% 12.50% 18 Cu Ti Zr Ni 47.00% 34.00% 11.00%   8.00% 19 Zr Co Al 55.00% 25.00% 20.00% 

In some embodiments, a composition having an amorphous alloy can include a small amount of impurities. The impurity elements can be intentionally added to modify the properties of the composition, such as improving the mechanical properties (e.g., hardness, strength, fracture mechanism, etc.) and/or improving the corrosion resistance. Alternatively, the impurities can be present as inevitable, incidental impurities, such as those obtained as a byproduct of processing and manufacturing. The impurities can be less than or equal to about 10 wt %, such as about 5 wt %, such as about 2 wt %, such as about 1 wt %, such as about 0.5 wt %, such as about 0.1 wt %. In some embodiments, these percentages can be volume percentages instead of weight percentages. In one embodiment, the alloy sample/composition consists essentially of the amorphous alloy (with only a small incidental amount of impurities). In another embodiment, the composition includes the amorphous alloy (with no observable trace of impurities).

In one embodiment, the final parts exceeded the critical casting thickness of the bulk solidifying amorphous alloys.

In embodiments herein, the existence of a supercooled liquid region in which the bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy can exist as a highly viscous liquid allows for superplastic forming Large plastic deformations can be obtained. The ability to undergo large plastic deformation in the supercooled liquid region is used for the forming and/or cutting process. As oppose to solids, the liquid bulk solidifying alloy deforms locally which drastically lowers the required energy for cutting and forming. The ease of cutting and forming depends on the temperature of the alloy, the mold, and the cutting tool. For higher temperatures, the viscosity is lower, and consequently cutting and forming is easier.

Embodiments herein can utilize a thermoplastic-forming process with amorphous alloys carried out between Tg and Tx, for example. Herein, Tx and Tg are determined from standard DSC measurements at typical heating rates (e.g. 20° C./min) as the onset of crystallization temperature and the onset of glass transition temperature.

The amorphous alloy components can have the critical casting thickness and the final part can have thickness that is thicker than the critical casting thickness. Moreover, the time and temperature of the heating and shaping operation is selected such that the elastic strain limit of the amorphous alloy could be substantially preserved to be not less than 1.0%, and preferably not being less than 1.5%. In the context of the embodiments herein, temperatures around glass transition means the forming temperatures can be below glass transition, at or around glass transition, and above glass transition temperature, but preferably at temperatures below the crystallization temperature T_(x). The cooling step is carried out at rates similar to the heating rates at the heating step, and preferably at rates greater than the heating rates at the heating step. The cooling step is also achieved preferably while the forming and shaping loads are still maintained.

Electronic Devices

The embodiments herein can be valuable in the fabrication of electronic devices using a BMG. An electronic device herein can refer to any electronic device known in the art. For example, it can be a telephone, such as a cell phone, and a land-line phone, or any communication device, such as a smart phone, including, for example an iPhone™, and an electronic email sending/receiving device. It can be a part of a display, such as a digital display, a TV monitor, an electronic-book reader, a portable web-browser (e.g., iPad™), and a computer monitor. It can also be an entertainment device, including a portable DVD player, conventional DVD player, Blue-Ray disk player, video game console, music player, such as a portable music player (e.g., iPod™), etc. It can also be a part of a device that provides control, such as controlling the streaming of images, videos, sounds (e.g., Apple TV™), or it can be a remote control for an electronic device. It can be a part of a computer or its accessories, such as the hard drive tower housing or casing, laptop housing, laptop keyboard, laptop track pad, desktop keyboard, mouse, and speaker. The article can also be applied to a device such as a watch or a clock.

Continuous Alloy Feedstock Production Molds

The embodiments herein relate to improvements in the throughput of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy feedstock creation for amorphous alloy casting. The mold is designed for continuous casting such that multiple cavities are connected to each other in some form of a circular pattern on a belt or a drum. For example, the mold could be a rotating mold having cavities therein and rotating around a horizontal axis. Each cavity itself could be a split or a non-split. However, the non-split cavity could be tapered or expandable. For example, the mold could have cavities to cast samples that could be of a cylindrical or somewhat cylindrical cross section. Other molds could have cavities for casting rods or cylinders that can be pulled directly from the surface of the mold, optionally having some taper. According to the embodiments herein, the rotating mold allows for continuous or semi-continuous feed stock production. In one embodiment, one could pour molten alloy toward the surface of the rotating wheel or drum mold with cavities therein. In addition, there could be a rod or a piston or something similar in the interior of the mold or disposed on one side of the mold that could be used to push individual units of solidified feedstock or part (generally referred herein as an ingot) out from the mold. So rather than rely on gravity to allow the ingot to drop out of the mold, as this might preclude the manufacture of extremely long aspect ratio rods because it would not fall out of the mold under gravity, there could be a mechanism for applying substantial amount of force on the ingot to eject it from the cavity in the mold.

One such design involves a rotating drum or wheel mold, rotating around a horizontal axis, with individual cavities along its outer surface. An internal rod could be used to eject individual feedstock pieces or ingots, and this ejection mechanism could be actuated either with a separate mechanism such as a gas piston or by allowing gravity to pull the bar down at one step of the cycle, contacting the bottom of the cavity and pushing the ingot out near the bottom.

FIG. 3 shows a rotating drum or wheel mold with cavities therein and a piston to eject the cast feedstock. The piston could be actuated by gas or some other fluid. Alternatively, the piston could have a heavy enough mass that, as the mold rotates around, the piston simply drops onto the back surface of the cast feed stock and ejects the cast feedstock by hitting the cast feedstock. The cavity in FIG. 3 could have a taper, e.g., in the range from zero to one degree.

Machining the cavity walls with a slight angle (conical shape) would help eject each ingot shaped cast feedstock, and in order to eject, a separate piece could be machined and used to fowl the bottom of each cavity, like a plug. FIG. 4 shows a schematic of a close up view of the plug for ejecting each individual feed stock unit. FIG. 4 shows that at the very top of the mold cavity, a stream of molten alloy is poured into the cavity which is labeled as “Cavity.” The top cross hatched rectangular area represents the outer surface of the rotating mold. Within the outer surface of the rotating mold is an opening going into the cavity to pour in a molten metal. The opening is generally at the top of the cavity. The cavity in FIG. 4 is drawn with a side wall taper just for reference. However, the side wall taper could conceivably be zero to one degree. Preferably, the bottom of the cavity has a taper to accommodate a plug which is labeled in FIG. 4 as “Tapered plug.” The tapered plug could essentially look like a wine cork (shown as an inverted wine cork in FIG. 4). The top part of the plug in FIG. 4 forms the bottom face of the cavity in which molten metal is poured to form the ingot. This top part of the plug should preferably have a tapered side wall. Like a wine cork, the side wall of the plug is preferably tapered to give provide a relatively leak-proof fit with the cavity wall to prevent molten metal from flowing Between the side wall of the plug and the cavity wall.

Below the taper plug could be a retainer, e.g., a threaded retainer shown in FIG. 4 as “Threaded retainer,” to hold the plug within the cavity and prevent the plug from completely coming out of the cavity like a wine cork would come out a wine bottle. In order to put the tapered plug into each cavity one could drop the tapered plug from the top opening of the cavity and allow it rest on the threaded retainer. The threaded retainer could be raises or lowered so that the plug seated within the threaded retainer could be raised or lowered, thereby the gap between the side wall of the plug and the cavity wall could be adjusted as desired. In one embodiment, the threaded retainer could have a locking mechanism (such as threads) that locks onto the bottom of the plug and could provide a wide enough surface around the circumference of the plug so that when this plug is pushed up to eject each solidified ingot, the threaded retainer keeps it from falling out of the mold. Below the threaded retainer there could be a piston such as circular rod as shown FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 shows the cavity as being of a relatively short size where the L over D equals to one, and the cavity wall has tapered sides. But that does not preclude a cavity that is much longer, say L aver D of ten to one or larger. For example, one could cast a rod and then eject it through the sane mechanism by hitting it from the bottom of the cavity.

Another embodiment involves how to actually push the threaded retainer and/or the tapered plug up into the cavity. FIG. 4 shows showed a piston that could strike the ingot in the cavity and push it out of the cavity. The piston could be actuated by a fluid or gas. But to simplify this design, one could have a rotating mold with cavities on either side of the mold, e.g. at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions. In the center of the mold, far from the threaded retainer portion, there could be a piston of suitable mass that when the mold is inverted rapidly it slides down and impacts on the threaded retainer as shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 5, for example, shows an arrow and states “Gravity actuated sliding piston.” In the center of that piston shaped object in FIG. 5 is a collar. The collar could have some sort of bearing to allow the piston to slide through the collar. The piston itself could be made from tungsten or tool steel or something dense such as a molybdenum based alloy or a nickel based alloy, or any suitably heavy piece of metal would do. The piston could normally slide down to the other side of the mold simply under gravity or could be electromagnetically, electrically or mechanically actuated to slide from side of the mold to the other side of the mold through the collar. For example in FIG. 5, the piston is resting on the bottom portion of the collar. When that mold is then inverted, the piston will simply slide through the collar and strike the tapered plug through the threaded retainer and push the ingot out of the cavity.

FIGS. 6( a) and 6(b) show a mold that is not a rotating drum or anything like that. Just a single rod mold with the tapered plug on the bottom portion. A rod or piston that allows one to rotate the mold and another piston that is actuated to eject the ingot or part (a solidified rod, for example) from the bottom of the mold once it has filled and solidified. That is the right half of the figure, i.e. FIG. 6( b). As the piston is actuated, it pushes the threaded container and tapered plug system to the left and as a result it shortens the cavity and ejects the solidified rod made from the molten metal. While FIGS. 6( a) and 6(b) show a cavity with a single rod, it is entirely possible that the overall mold assembly could contain multiple rod molds as shown in FIGS. 7( a) and 7(b). One embodiment of a multi-cavity mold could include 12 cavities spaced apart at each hour positions, and pistons or multiple headed pistons that would eject all of those ingots sequentially or simultaneously. While FIGS. 6( b) shows the mold rotated by 90 degrees, one could rotate the mold instead by 180 degrees as shown in FIG. 7( b) so that the opening of the cavity is facing down and a gravity actuated piston could strike the plug to push the ingot out of the cavity.

The embodiments herein could be applicable for any type of metal melting system, including a vacuum melting system as shown in FIGS. 8( a) to 8(d) in which one would want to obviate the task of removing the feed stock by breaking vacuum. So, if one wanted to get a semi-continuous or continuous operation one could actuate this mold by rotating it or by actuating a piston to eject the material. Furthermore, one could have the material fall through a sequence of gate valves so that one could remove the ingot to atmospheric pressure.

Furthermore, because these designs of the embodiments herein allow poured, solidified material to be ejected into the chamber, the pouring could progress through multiple discrete steps, and additional feedstock constituents can be added to the still-hot crucible for additional melting cycles without breaking vacuum. In addition, in order to collect large amounts of solidified feedstock, a vacuum load lock can be added to capture the feedstock during the ejection step. This load lock is evacuated and the gate valve between the load lock chamber and process chamber is opened before each ejection step. Alternatively, the gate valve is kept open to capture feedstock continuously. Once sufficient feedstock has accumulated, the load lock is separated from the process chamber, brought up to atmospheric pressure and opened to remove the feedstock.

The mold material could be selected to achieve a high cooling rate. For example, one could select appropriate metallic mold having high thermal conductivity or a mold made of ceramic having high thermal conductivities, e.g. Beryllium Oxide (thermal conductivity=300 W/mK), Silicon Carbide (thermal conductivity=120 W/mK), versus tool steels (thermal conductivity=20-40 W/mK).

FIG. 9 shows a mold having integrated heating and cooling within the mold. The heating and cooling tubes could be made of metal, for example. One could use water, oil, gases such as air, nitrogen, argon, helium to control temperature of cavity walls and poured molten metal feedstock. One could also embed heating cartridges (resistive heaters, for example) to warm the mold, which could improve uniformity of the surface of molten metal in the cavity shown in FIG. 9 after the molten metal has been solidified into a feedstock, ingot or a part. Another option would be to use induction heating using a mold that is transparent to electromagnetic waves for induction heating, e.g., a ceramic mold. Another option would be to integrate cooling channels for fluid flow within the ceramic mold without physically incorporating tubes such as metal walled tubes. Instead, the cooling channels would be hollow contiguous space that forms “tubes” within the mold. Note that the mold cavity and the channels within the mold could be made such that the cavity that holds the molten metal is not connected to the cooling channels to prevent the molten metal from flowing from the cavity into the cooling channels.

Another variation could relate to heating the cavity while filling the mold of the molten metal forming the BMG. When the mold has multiple thin sections in a cavity or the cavity has multiple sub-cavities for multiple parts or ingots, it is possible that it might be difficult to fill the thin sections or small cavities without the molten metal freezing up during filling. To avoid this problem, the whole mold could be heated, for example, using induction heating using coils surrounding the mold, while filling the molten metal such that the molten metal is kept fully molten and homogenous though out the mold while filling the mold. Subsequently, after the mold of FIG. 9 is completely filled, the induction heating coil is turned off, whereby cooling begins at the same time though out the molten metal in all of the cavities in the mold.

Induction heating is the process of heating an electrically conducting object (usually a metal) by electromagnetic induction, where eddy currents (also called Foucault currents) are generated within the metal and resistance leads to Joule heating of the metal. An induction heater (for any process) could be an electromagnet, through which a high-frequency alternating current (AC) is passed. Heat may also be generated by magnetic hysteresis losses in materials that have significant relative permeability. The frequency of AC used depends on the object size, material type, coupling (between the work coil and the object to be heated) and the penetration depth. The molten metals forming BMG are suitable materials for induction heating. In order for the mold to efficiently transfer heat from the induction coil to the molten metal, it is desirable that the material of the mold should be electromagnetically transparent or substantially electromagnetically transparent (e.g., radio frequency transparent) to induction heating.

Radio frequency (RF) has a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves. The RF transparent materials for the mold/mold could be low-cost, high-performance RF transparent materials for a conformal mold/mold, which are designed to carry the load of a structure such as a cast BMG part while incorporating RF transparency functionality. Consequently, these mold/mold structures could be non-conductive materials, such as a quartz, silica or glass (e.g., non-woven glass fiber) preform impregnated with resin such as a cyanate ester resin. Such materials are a compromise between structural integrity, low cost and RF transparency performance. The mold/mold could further include reinforcing fibers (e.g., high strength glass fiber strands) in a non-woven glass fiber fabric in such a fashion that the RF transparency performance is not degraded. For example, the mold/mold could contain a composite fabric that exploits both the mechanical strength of reinforcing fiber and the electrical/RF properties of quartz/silica fiber. This could be achieved through a special weave of the two materials optimized for their respective properties.

As the mold of FIG. 9 could be made of a ceramic material, versus made of a metallic tool like tool-steel which is not electromagnetically transparent, it is possible to take advantage of the electromagnetic transparency of the ceramic material of the mold to inductively heat the molten metal, preferably under vacuum or in an inert environment, by the “heat-as-you-fill” embodiment shown in FIG. 9. Another advantage of the “heat-as-you-fill” technique is that one can fill the cavities in the mold very slowly such that one can fill intricate cavities, thin sections and details in the mold. Also, by filling the cavities slowly, one could avoid turbulence and washing in of the molten metal, thereby reducing the amount of porosity that one would see a final part.

Induction heating is a non-contact heating process. It uses high frequency electricity to heat materials that are electrically conductive. Since it is non-contact, the heating process does not contaminate the material being heated. It is also very efficient since the heat is actually generated inside the workpiece (e.g., the BMG feedstock). This can be contrasted with other heating methods where heat is generated in a flame or heating element, which is then applied to the workpiece. For these reasons induction heating lends itself to heating the feedstock of BMG as this feedstock generally comprise reactive metals.

Generally, three things are needed to implement induction heating of the embodiments herein: a source of high frequency electrical power, a work coil to generate the alternating magnetic field, and an electrically conductive workpiece to be heated. However, practical induction heating systems of the embodiment herein may require the following: an impedance matching network is often required between the high frequency source and the work coil in order to ensure good power transfer; water cooling systems in high power induction heaters to remove waste heat from the work coil, its matching network and the power electronics; and finally the control electronics to control the intensity of the heating action, and time the heating cycle to ensure consistent results. The control electronics could also protect the system from being damaged by a number of adverse operating conditions.

The work coil could be incorporated into a resonant tank circuit. This has a number of advantages. Firstly, it makes either the current or the voltage waveform become sinusoidal. This minimizes losses in the inverter by allowing it to benefit from either zero-voltage-switching or zero-current-switching depending on the exact arrangement chosen. The sinusoidal waveform at the work coil also represents a more pure signal and causes less Radio Frequency Interference to nearby equipment. This later point becoming very important in high-powered systems. We will see that there are a number of resonant schemes that the designer of an induction heater can choose for the work coil: series resonant tank circuit and parallel resonant tank circuit.

The “heat-as-you-fill” embodiment could be combined with the cooling such that the mold has both heating and cooling capabilities as shown in FIG. 9. In such a combination, both the induction coil and the cooling coil could be located in the mold.

Another variation of the “heat-as-you-fill” technique would require preheating the mold to allow for filling of the mold while keeping the alloy molten, quenching the mold and molten metal in a cooling media, thereby causing the mold to break off due to a heat shock and resulting in rapid cooling of the metal part that should have retained its shape during the quenching and rapid cooling steps.

Another embodiment relates to putting a powder feedstock into an electromagnetically transparent mold such as a ceramic mold, induction heating the powder within the ceramic mold so as to consolidate and combine the powder into a molten metal, turning off the induction coils and cooling the molten metal rapidly to form a BMG part. This embodiment avoids the powder feedstock from having to be heated and molten in a crucible separately.

The advantages that the embodiments herein have over other existing products or technology are many. First, the embodiments herein provide an alternative to complicated split mold designs currently used. These molds must be removed from the process chamber after every pour and manually dismantled to remove the solidified feedstock. Second, the embodiments can be used to perform multiple melt/pour cycles without breaking vacuum, with the system only opened to remove accumulated feedstock. Third, the feedstock can be ejected into a separate chamber or load lock, which will be periodically opened to remove feedstock without breaking the vacuum of the process chamber. Fourth, the process described above would allow for semi-continuous or continuous feedstock production, with the potential for cleaner melting conditions due to the elimination of a process chamber vacuum break and up-to-air step. 

What is claimed:
 1. A method comprising: filling a metal alloy into a cavity of a rotating mold, cooling a molten metal alloy to form a solid object comprising a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy, rotating the rotating mold along a horizontal axis of revolution; and ejecting the solid object using a device located within the rotating mold.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining the metal alloy in the rotating mold in a form of the molten metal alloy at a temperature near or above a melting temperature (Tm) of the molten metal alloy so as to prevent formation of crystals of the metal alloy, wherein the molten metal alloy has a composition that forms a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy at a cooling rate of 1000 degree C. or less.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cooling is at a cooling rate such that a time-temperature profile during the cooling does not traverse through a region bounding a crystalline region of the metal alloy in a time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the rotating mold comprises an integrated cooling channel within the rotating mold, wherein the cooling channel is configured to allow a coolant to flow through the cooling channel
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the rotating mold contains a plurality of cavities for forming a plurality of objects.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising induction heating the metal alloy in the rotating mold, wherein the rotating mold is substantially electromagnetically transparent.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising preheating the rotating mold.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the filling the metal alloy into the rotating mold comprises filling the molten metal alloy.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the filling the metal alloy into the rotating mold comprises filling a powder form of the metal alloy.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the powder form of the metal alloy is heated to form the molten metal alloy in situ in the rotating mold.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the powder form of the metal alloy is heated by induction heating using an induction coil, and wherein the cooling the molten metal alloy comprises in situ cooling using a cooling channel in the rotating mold.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a piston or a striker.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the piston or striker is actuated by gravity.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the solid object is an ingot, a feedstock or a part.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is carried out in a process chamber under vacuum.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the ejecting comprises transferring the solid object from the rotating mold to atmospheric pressure via a separate chamber or load lock without breaking the vacuum of the process chamber.
 17. An apparatus comprising a rotating mold comprising a plurality of cavities configured to hold a molten metal and cool the molten alloy at a cooling rate to form a solid object comprising a bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy, and a device to eject the solid object from the cavity.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the cooling rate is such that a time-temperature profile during cooling does not traverse through a region bounding a crystalline region of the metal alloy in a time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram of the metal alloy.
 19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the device comprises a piston or a striker.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the piston or striker is actuated by gravity.
 21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the rotating mold comprises an integrated cooling channel within the rotating mold, wherein the cooling channel is configured to allow a coolant to flow through the cooling channel.
 22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the rotating mold contains a plurality of cavities for forming a plurality of objects.
 23. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising an induction for induction heating the metal alloy in the rotating mold, wherein the rotating mold is substantially electromagnetically transparent. 